What better way to celebrate the start of taper than with an overnight in the AMC Huts!

I’m feeling good about my training for the Cambridge Half – I did my last long run on Friday, 13.1 miles, just to make sure I could do it before the race actually happens. And this hike wasn’t long – it really wasn’t meant to be a hiking trip at all, just a way to knock around in nature for a bit before it really gets too cold.

It’s really more a jaunt from the Lafayette parking lot to Lonesome Lake Hut – a mere mile. We chose Lonesome Lake for the brevity of the haul, the mountain lake, and the views. It’s one of the only AMC Huts in the White Mountains where the bunks are housed separately from the community room and fireplace, something we hadn’t taken into account when booking it. While it was nice that the five of us had a bunkhouse pretty much to ourselves, it might have been nice to stay at a hut where we didn’t have to trek through the cold and elements to get to the main room.

Did you know that you can stay at the AMC Huts off-season? It’s a different experience, more self-serve than anything else. A skeleton staff mans it to make sure no one burns the place down, but otherwise, you book a couple of bunks, you get run of the kitchen, and you make do.

And we made do! Jenna and Adam (ever our gastronomists) had the brilliant idea to pack up two whole, frozen chickens with us to cook at the hut. We also hauled up a little bit of olive oil, some salt and pepper (in case the hut was minimally stocked), and bundles of vegetables to roast along with the chicken, including some zucchini, broccoli, onions, sweet potatoes, and even some herbs.

I’m not going to pretend I helped with any of the creation of this feast – I leave the cooking to the cooks (I did help clean!) and stuck to the documenting. We did get a healthy amount of gawking from the rest of the hut-stayers as they chowed down on their cold food and Mountain House. Ben, Jenna, and Adam got the ovens going, chopped up all the veggies, rubbed down the chicken with butter, and within 30 minutes, the whole tiny common area smelled like Thanksgiving.

When the food came out, we took over one whole community table (there were plenty of empty ones, we weren’t being selfish), set up our spread, and ate while playing board games.

All and all, a great one-night trip!